


Gemini

by Noore



Category: Persona 4
Genre: F/F, Introspection, Romance, Slice of Life, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 13:25:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14285874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noore/pseuds/Noore
Summary: As Hamlet said to Ophelia, ”God has given you one face, and you make yourself another."





	1. Life After

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy. This will mostly be a character analysis about Naoto that I've been meaning to hash out for a very long time, with some romance of course because it's me. ;)

**4.25.12**

Despite his silence, Souji had passed through this little town like a storm. A tumultuous flurry of alternate universes, murder, greek motifs, demons, and physical manifestations of humanity's darkest insecurities, with Souji at its center. To think someone so even tempered and reserved would end up being not only the catalyst to the chaos that descended upon them last year, but the glue that held them all together. Shape shifting. He drifted in and out of social groups effortlessly, becoming what each of them needed at any given time, osmose to any given situation or personal affair. One had to wonder if he was manipulative or simply gregarious. Either way, who better to spearhead their battle against monsters born from their peers’ bottled up emotions? As much as Naoto sometimes found herself resenting him for it, he truly was the only one fit to be their leader. And then, he left.

1 month and 5 days ago to be exact.

She remembers the moment the train disappeared from view clearly; Rise and Teddie were crying, Kanji was tearing up, Yosuke was pretending not to cry, Chie and Yukiko looked at each other glumly before turning back to help Dojima console a sobbing Nanako. Naoto doesn’t know what expression she had back then, but she felt a little empty inside. As she looked their group over, the picture just didn’t seem right without him. That fact hasn’t changed much.

There were times she wondered why they were even friends, given their history with one another they felt more like confidants or even a cult. Friends of circumstance, perhaps? A group of people who happened to be standing in the right place at the right time when one another's walls came tumbling down. All sharing a secret. She always felt a little left out having been the last one to join the group, the only one to have her privacy violated without violating anyone else’s in return, but maybe that’s a cruel thing to think.

Souji was the only one she could really talk to, who knew her most personally, and now that he was gone she felt somewhat alone in a crowd. Perhaps the others felt the same, the intimacy of someone getting to know you by choice rather than a possessed doppelganger blurting out all of your darkest secrets just seems a bit more genuine.

It was foolish of her to think she was special, and perhaps even more foolish to think that getting close to one person, especially someone like Souji, meant that she had changed. She hated how much she missed him, how there was an unspoken awkwardness in the air whenever they all got together, how it still felt impossible for her to bridge the gap between her and everyone else, how-

“Naoto… Naoto!”

Naoto’s eyes snap up from her coffee towards whoever was yelling at her.

“Earth to space cadet, I asked if you were going to get dessert,” Chie says with a pleading look.

The six of them were crammed into a booth at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Okina city, sans Teddie who bounded off to the drink bar with Yosuke’s credit card and hadn’t come back. ‘How much trouble could he get in, he doesn’t even have an ID!’

“No, no way. You’re just asking somebody else so you don’t feel like the only hog here,” Yosuke says from the corner, earning a scoff from Chie and a laugh from Yukiko.

“Don’t call Chie a hog, she just wants more plates so we can win a prize,” Yukiko says, trying to be helpful and failing. The restaurant's gimmick is for every four plates you buy and dispose of via the chute connected to the table you get a chance at a prize indicated by a slot machine displayed on the screen above it, all of the prizes are capsule toys aimed towards children, an easy way to get parents to buy more. Naoto scolds herself for staring greedily at the featherman keychain listed on the screen’s prize showcase.

“Yukiko!” Chie yells embarrassed. Naoto can’t help but snicker as they all fall into laughter, some days were better than others. That is until Teddie returns with a large green stain running down his shirt and a half empty cup of what looks to be a swampy mix of soda, slush, and lemonade, scooting into his seat beside Kanji and cheerfully outstretching his hand towards a very angry Yosuke to hand him back his credit card.

 

* * *

Despite the available seating they were more or less clumped together the same way on the train ride back to town, Yosuke sitting as far away as possible from Teddie who was happily resting between Yukiko and Chie’s elbow.

“Naotooo, do you need Kanji to walk you home?” Rise coos, tilting her head towards her. She doesn’t need anyone to walk her home, she can hear Kanji shifting in his seat, is he uncomfortable walking around at night? Perhaps he’s worried about getting scolded by his mother for staying out late, all the more reason.

“I’m quite capable of going home on my own,” she replies coolly, hearing Kanji let out a breath on her other side.

“It’s… It’s cool with me,” he stammers, were they mocking her? Naoto didn’t like feeling coddled, she’s about to say as much before she remembers what she was thinking about at the restaurant.

“... Thank you for the offer, but I’d prefer to go home on my own. Perhaps you can escort Rise home instead. You live quite close to her, after all.”

Rise sighs a heavy sigh and Kanji looks a little disappointed, what did she do? She’s trying to be less cold and it never seems to work out how she expects, she wonders how Souji would handle this and cuts the thought short.

After the train pulls into the station they begin going their separate ways, Yukiko and Chie heading down the hill towards Chie’s house for a sleepover, Yosuke dragging Teddie towards the bus, all waving goodbye at Rise, Kanji and herself. When the four of them are out of view a silence hangs between the three of them. Naoto tips her hat to them and is about to head towards her own bus when Rise shoots her hand out and latches onto hers.

“Hey, why don’t you walk with us?”

“As I told you on the train, I don’t require-”

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t require any assistance. No duh. You have a _gun_ , but that’s not it, we just want to walk with you! Right, Kanji?”

Kanji looks at them both with wide eyes and says nothing for a moment before rubbing his neck and letting out a gruff "Yeah."

Naoto is a little taken aback by this.

“See! Who wants to be the only one walking home alone? Us first years need to stick together, so let’s go. We’ll drop you off at your bus stop.” As if that settled it, she grabs onto Kanji with her other hand and leads them down the street.

Naoto stammers unintelligible excuses before giving into Rise's iron grip and allowing herself to be dragged along.

The three of them walk down the dimly lit sidewalk, quieted by the sounds of families finishing dinner and turning in for the evening and soothed by the smell of the summer night’s warm air. As they remain hand in hand like innocent children, willingly or unwillingly she can no longer discern, she feels something like a warmness spreading through her. She tries to tell herself it’s simply a by-product of thermal energy given off by Rise’s warm hand transferring heat into Naoto’s cold one to reach an equilibrium, but when she looks over at both of them walking pleasantly beside her, she realizes she’s just happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day at a time.


	2. Best Friends

**5.1.12**

Rise told Naoto she was her best friend. She didn’t believe her.

The admission should have flattered her, really, but Naoto has never had a best friend before, let alone normal ones. The whole concept was still very new to her. She’d grown exponentially from her initial debut as the stand offish new boy at school to having friends who’d risked their lives for her, but it was still new.

 _Rise deserves a better best friend than me_ , she thinks aloud at her reflection as she brushes her teeth, clad in her school slacks and undershirt. With a sigh, she finishes brushing her hair and checks her handwritten notebook of appointments.

She's been considering taking on new cases, but at her grandpa's behest she's opted to at least finish the school year before making any decisions. After the murder case, demand has skyrocketed, she's been getting calls from many different regions requesting her assistance with crimes ranging from homicide to scandal. It's a welcome change of pace to know that she's being requested based on her merit rather than the opportunity for publicity and media coverage that the _detective prince_ will bring, but the feeling dwindles as she looks around her somewhat drab, empty apartment. It's been feeling smaller recently, and she wonders if she's homesick. Of course the 110 square foot apartment could never compare to the large halls and echoing chambers of the Shirogane estate, but she suspects this isn't the problem. As usual, she puts on her cap and makes her way to school.

On her way up the steep incline of the hill leading to the school gates she hears the off beat clacking of mid rise shoes and swishing of school bag charms bounding up behind her and she already knows who it is.

“Good morning, Rise.”

“Mornin’, Naoto,” she says with a yawn, stretching her arms behind her head, “We made it just in time, huh?”

“Indeed.” Naoto was usually early for class, but in recent weeks she's stood in bed lost in thought each morning rather than getting ready like she should. She can imagine her grandpa scolding her if he was aware. Detectives had to be punctual.

“I wish Kanji would tell me where's the secret hole in the fence he uses to get to class but he says I'll get hurt. Like, What is he, my dad?”

“Mm.”

“Naotoooo,” she draws out, looming over her as she’s pulling her school shoes out of her locker. Most students have cleared away from the lockers by now as the first bell has already rung. 

“You're spacing out again, what's up? Did you oversleep this morning? Still dreaming?”

“Oh… no, it's not that. I apologize.” It was rude of her but she hadn’t been very focused lately either, she'd even begun considering not coming to school at all for the past few days.

“Hmm,” she hums, gesturing for Naoto to walk with her to their home rooms, “did you eat something weird this morning? Too much coffee will turn you old, you know...” she says with concern before adding, “unless that's your plan.”

“Of course not.” Naoto rolls her eyes, she'd pretty much settled that issue a while ago. “I usually don’t bother having anything at all, actually.”

Rise makes another hum of understanding before they separate towards their respective classrooms just as the last bell rings.

When lunch rolls around, Kanji strides hunch backed out of the room as most of the class begins to push their desks together. Naoto turns her attention away from him to one of the girls, she doesn't remember her name, snaking over to her desk asking if she would like to try some of her lunch. Naoto had gotten softer after the incident with her shadow as well as the beauty pageant and some people, mostly girls, all girls actually, had become even ‘friendlier’ towards her than before. However, she had no interest in such advances from these kinds of people. She just couldn't see the point.

“That won't be necessary,” she says pretty coldly, channeling some of her energy from when she first arrived at school, she hears the girl whine in disappointment but pays her no mind as she walks out of the classroom and heads towards her usual thinking spot.

 

“Naoto, why’re you hangin’ around outside the bathroom?”

“Ah, hello Kanji, do you need to use the facilities? Excuse me.”

“The facili-what the hell is, no-listen, come to auditorium and eat with us before the periods over, okay?”

“Us?”

“Me an’ Rise”

Naoto uses all the strength of 15 years of mockery and having no friends to bite back correcting him with a 'Rise and I,' instead opting for, “I appreciate the offer but I couldn't intrude.”

“Who's intrudin’ if you're invited? Come on, man.”

He wasn't wrong. “.... Very well,” she concedes.

 

“And then I said, ‘I'm not giving any interviews at this time,’ but he just wouldn't shut up! So I'm like, 'Security!' and wouldn't you know my grandma starts creeping down the stairs and he ran off thinking it was my bodyguard!” Rise says, breaking out into a fit of laughter that would make Yukiko proud before entering a coughing fit and gulping down the contents of her thermos. Kanji smirks and pats her back awkwardly.

The three of them are sat between the auditorium stage's staircase and back exit, crammed together on its narrow steps. Last year, she remembers dashing through those double doors to avoid being paraded around in a swimsuit in front of the entirety of the student body. How she won the contest anyway was a mystery even she could not solve, but her grandpa seemed pleased with it enough to keep the trophy in his study, she was getting embarrassed just thinking about it.

She's pulled out of her thoughts by Rise shoving a red bento box into her lap. She looks at it before looking between Kanji and Rise, the former sweating profusely and the latter smiling expectantly.

“What's this?” Naoto asks.

Rise's expression falls exaggeratedly “it's lunch for you, you doof,” she says, “Kanji did most of the work but I talked us into the home ec room so it's from both of us.”

“I did _all_ the work,” Kanji mutters, glaring at the curtains above them.

“Oh.” Naoto says blankly, “But I don't need--” stop, that's rude, “Thank you?” She actually thanks her lucky stars Rise didn't have anything to do with this or she'd have to be rushed to the ICU to get herself tested for mercury poisoning. She gives them both a confused glance before taking the lid off, inside was a simple but appetizing meal consisting of rice and karaage, with bits of seaweed arranged on top of the rice to form the image of a... was that Hello Kitty? Kanji definitely did all the work.

"May I ask what brought this about all of a sudden?"

"You're always skipping lunch... and playing peggle on your phone!" Rise shouts at her between bites of her own lunch, pointing at her with her chop sticks.

"How do you--are you spying on me?!"

"I'm not spying on you, I'm being a concerned friend."

"Nah, you're pretty nosy Rise."

"Shut _up_ , Kanji!"

The atmosphere is normal again, and once Kanji and Rise settle down they're all finishing their lunch and playing on their phones. The echos of students walking and chatting reverberating throughout the auditorium's large chamber makes her feel like they're on their own island and Naoto finds herself lost in thought among Rise and Kanji's light chatter, wishing they could all stay like this a little longer, maybe even all day.

The first warning bell rings, indicating that lunch is almost over and students should begin heading back to their homerooms.

"Ah, shit, I gotta be heading back," Kanji says, standing up with a grunt.

"It sucks we're not in the same class," Rise pouts, tying up her lunch box in its matching pink cloth.

"Yup, but I got cleaning duty after school anyways so I don't wanna piss off my homeroom teacher even more."

"Ah, I have cleaning duty today as well," Naoto pipes up suddenly.

Rise and Kanji turn towards her and stare as if she's a piece of abstract portraiture.

"Seriously? Aren't you supposed to be the goody two shoes? When did this happen?" Rise feigns shock.

"When did I imply that? Just because I work with law enforcement doesn't mean I abide by every rule there is."

"What’d ya do? Attendance again?"

"It's not my fault honestly, I tried to excuse myself from class on the basis of an urgent phone call from overseas, however my homeroom teacher wouldn't hear any of it, so I walked out. I believe you were in the bathroom at the time."

"Damn, Naoto," Kanji says, with a bit of a smirk. Was he... proud of her?

"No fair! I want to get in trouble too!" Rise stands up and clenches her fists together.

"What?!"

The final bell for lunch begins to ring as Kanji swears under his breath and rushes out into the corridor towards the main hallway, saying something about how they all better hurry or Rise really will be joining them. Naoto and Rise gather up the rest of their things before following his lead, but Rise eventually comes to a halt as they near the end of the hallway's corridor and Kanji continues on without them and out of sight.

"Is something wrong?" Naoto asks, panting a little, she really was out of shape. She hadn't done any exercise outside of traversing the TV world and her physique had been suffering for it, perhaps she should ask Chie for advice on the matter later.

"Nah, just thinking about how I'm the nerd of our group all of a sudden," Rise says glumly.

"You seriously want cleaning duty? It's not like either of us planned for it, it really is an inconvenience."

"It's not that, it's just... I don't know," she gives up with a sad smile and her eyes wander off to the side.

Despite a few other students passing them in a hurry, it feels like they're the only two here. Rise had seemed off for a while. Ever since Souji left, her moods have been all over the place. Well, they always were, but there was something lonely in her eyes now that wasn't there before. The way that she had recently begun clinging to her and Kanji was not a fact that was lost on her, she wasn't so socially oblivious that she wouldn't notice when her friend feared being alone, it was a feeling she knew all too well, and it was not an anxiety she wanted Rise to suffer through just because Souji was no longer around. After all, she was right here, and she was her... best friend.

In a bold move, Naoto raises her hand and places it on Rise's shoulder, surprising her out of her thoughts and forcing her to make eye contact with her. She felt nervousness rising to her chest for some reason but did her best to subdue it by straightening her posture with a deep breath. 

"If you wouldn't mind waiting for us, perhaps we can all walk home together, um, like before." But preferably without the hand holding, that might be a bit embarrassing for three high school students in the middle of the afternoon. It was embarrassing in general, actually. She wasn't good at this.

Rise makes a thoughtful expression at her for a moment before breaking into a genuine smile, her hands travel up to her own shoulder to grab Naoto's wrist and clasp her hand between her own.

"Sure," she says fondly, "If you insist. Now get to class, bad boy." It seems Rise was back to normal.

She really ought to hurry to class, though.

 

* * *

 

The two chalkboard erasers smacked together outside of the window overlooking the rural scenery of their small town, and in a fit of coughs and a cloud of dust, Naoto truly believed Inaba was a separate dimension trapped in the 1960s. It was times like this she missed the whirring tools and bigger budget of city schools, whatever charms the country held were lost on her the moment she had to wipe down their classroom's creaky floor by _hand_.

"You alright, Naoto?" Kanji calls to her from across the room, cleaning cloth in hand. 

"I'm- _cough_ -fine, thank you," she assures him as she clears her throat in the crook of her rolled up sleeve. A moment passes.

"So, uh, how you been?" He asks, turning away from her to focus on the overhead fan he was currently polishing.

Kanji usually avoided making small talk of any kind with her, which she was comfortable with because she still wasn't particularly good at it outside of police investigations and press interviews, but she welcomed the opportunity given how she barely knew anything about him despite them both being the only first years in the same class in their group. She had always assumed it was because she had done something to offend him or make him uncomfortable in some way, she remembers Souji assuring her otherwise but refusing to answer when she asked what the cause might be. She takes her hat off in order to dust it and brush her bangs back from her forehead, a bit damp after the thorough bit of cleaning they'd done for the past hour.

"Fine," she started, "This town is certainly starting to feel like home. I can't remember the last time I've stayed in one place for so long. After a case, I mean."

"Well, it better be, ya saved it after all," Kanji responds with a look of triumph on his face, that is until they make eye contact and he quickly averts his gaze back to the ceiling. Maybe he's... just shy?

"That may be part of the reason yes, but it does have its charms," she puts her cap back on and decides to take a seat on a nearby desk, there are no teachers around to scold them after all.

"The inn is pretty much the only thing worth visitin', but other than that it's a pretty chill place if you're into that sorta thing, yeah."

"Yes, it is quite... chill," Kanji snickers at her response and she wonders what's so funny.

"So, how are you? Is the textile shop doing okay? How is your mother?"

"Uhh, pretty good I guess, business is doin' better since we started doin' online orders, and ma's fine? Pretty rapid fire questions there, Naoto."

"I apologize, it's just that I don't often get the opportunity to... have a proper chat with you, I suppose."

"O-Oh, my bad... just gotta lotta stuff on my mind sometimes is all," Kanji rubs the back of his head before continuing, "Heh, it's funny, I used to think you only talked like that around us 'cause you weren't totally comfortable, but I guess it's just like ya to sound so serious all the time."

"I sound too serious?" 

"Yeah, man! Rise and Yosuke tell you all the time, ain't you been listening?"

"I had assumed they were teasing me."

"Dude," Kanji had abandoned his cloth and spray in favor of pulling up a chair and sitting on it backwards, "No, they're not, you're just wound up super tight."

"How?" Naoto says, folding her hands into her lap. 

"Like," He gestures to all of her, "Like that!"

"Like _what_?" She repeats. She honestly didn't see what the big deal was, just because she didn't use words like _dude_ and had somewhat of a rigid posture didn't mean she couldn't relax. She tries to demonstrate by slouching her shoulders some but immediately straightens up out of habit. Okay, well that was just impolite, that's all.

Kanji grins, "Hey, don't worry about it. You don't gotta force yourself, you're cool the way you are." 

Naoto's eyes widen, no one had ever called her cool before, well no one who knew her personally, at least. Souji had told her something similar, but the sudden sincerity in Kanji's remark had taken her aback and she had trouble responding.

He seems to notice her pause as he coughs into his hand and scratches his head. She was making this awkward, even he was embarrassed for her, by the look on his face. He was certainly red as well, had he been like that already? Surely he hadn't exerted himself that much, he barely broke a sweat _picking up_ desks, so why would he get tired from wiping them down? Maybe she was just projecting.

"Uh, listen, I--"

Whatever he was going to say is cut short by the loud clatter of their classroom's door sliding open, a pair of pig tails poking their way inside. Their heads whip toward Rise as she steps inside, Naoto questions the way her heart races as if she had been caught committing an act of vandalism, but she can't figure out why and dismisses it in favor of being startled. Kanji seems to feel the same way as his chair nearly falls to the floor from standing up so fast. After taking in the scene, Rise merely flicks her eyes between the two of them and stretches the corners of her mouth into a mocking grin.

"Ohh, were you guys about to kiss? My bad," she says, squinting her eyes in a sneering way before walking backwards out of the classroom the exact same way she came in. Kanji might as well have been made of stone by the way his body seems to be frozen in place, his voice sputtering into silence as if someone pressed his off button, and now it's Naoto's turn to nearly fall over in shock.

"Kiss?!" That was absurd, with Kanji? Never. Why would she? Why would _he_? How could she say that? She's completely flustered as she straightens her cap and begins to stride toward the door to go confront Rise when she suddenly steps back inside and gets in her face, smiling mischievously. The proximity of their faces makes her almost more embarrassed than her accusation. Almost.

"Just kidding!" She says cheerfully, tilting her head from Naoto to a beet red Kanji, still standing motionless with his jaw hanging open, "C'mon, Kanji, we're walking home together!" She claps like a teacher calling preschool students into a line and Naoto is simply aghast at the situation she's created for no conceivable reason.

 

* * *

 

 

They somehow make it outside and are walking along the side of the Samegawa river as Naoto's thoughts race with the embarrassment of what just happened. She wishes she could just forget about it but she can't help but be reminded as Kanji's glaringly obvious desperation to remain as far from her as possible makes it look as though he's about to stumble down off the road and into the flood plain. She takes a deep breath in and out of her nose, looking over to Rise who was literally skipping and humming in between the two of them.

"Rise."

"Hey, you know what, we should go hang out at Kanji's house," she suggests, ignoring her.

"We should WHAT?!" Kanji shouts from the other side of the road and Naoto can't tell if it's because he's outraged or he literally can't hear her.

"Look, I just wanna hang out with you guys but the others are probably at Junes, Naoto's apartment is super far, and my grandma's not gonna like two boys coming over all of a sudden!"

"But I'm-" Naoto begins.

"She's a very skeptical woman, Naoto, so I hope you're comfortable taking off your top in front of her!" Kanji lets out a shout as he stumbles down into the flood plain and Naoto uses the opportunity to hide her red face from Rise as they race over to help him back up.

 

 

"You could be a lil more considerate of people, man," Kanji tells Rise when they finally reach the hill leading up to the textile shop.

"I'm sorryyy," she pleads with him, her hands clasped together as if in prayer.

"Is your mother going to be okay with this? I don't wish to intrude upon her a second time."

"Nah, it's cool. Actually, I think she'll be glad to see me comin' home with some, uh, friends instead of a police escort, heh." He offers them an uncomfortable smile as they reach the shop's entrance, wind chimes ringing as he swings the door open. It's late afternoon so the store is empty save for an old woman bringing out an assortment of handmade stuffed animals in her arms. She peaks over them to give the three of them a cheerful smile and hello.

"Hey, ma." Kanji greets his mother before relieving her of the load she's carrying with his large hands.

"Kanji, dear, it's so nice of you to bring your friends over," she says, taking a seat on the cushion next to the register with a sigh of relief, "It's so good to see you again, Rise. And you too, Mr. detective."

Ah, she still thought she was a boy, not that Naoto had any problem with that. Many people did, and she didn't feel the need to correct them. She didn't see the point, it was hardly even a correction sometimes, it was a relief honestly, less questions and confused looks. She tips her hat to her.

"It's good to see you again, too, Mrs. Tatsumi." 

"Mrs. Tatsumi, it's been so long since I've come over, I missed you!" Rise bows politely, before throwing her arm around Naoto and turning them towards Kanji, who was setting up the stuffed animals in a display in the shop's window. "Hey, Kanji, what have you cooked up this time? Can we see?"

Cooked up? Oh. Right. Kanji made those. Sometimes it was hard for Naoto to believe someone so gruff and imposing could craft such intricate and cute designs. When Naoto looked at Kanji's large, calloused hands deftly knit a scarf or sow buttons onto the face of a doll while they were idling somewhere she was almost jealous at how he didn't let his physique define him. It wasn't a bad thing obviously, just not what you'd expect, though she suspects she'd be one to talk standing at a little bit over 5 feet with a gun in her back pocket. Upon further analysis it would seem that Kanji and her weren't so different after all.

"Uh, sure," he passes a doll over to each of them and quickly turns back to his task to avoid watching their reactions.

The theme for this collection of dolls seemed to be animals dressed as other animals, in her hands was a cat dressed as what seemed to be a labrador retriever, if she had to guess. It was quite elaborate, complete with a collar as well as paw prints on its feet, the material was quite soft as well. She'd have to ask him what fabrics he uses in order to create the illusion of fur, and about the whole process actually, it was quite fascinating. She says as much to him and Rise seems to share her opinion as she squeals beside her.

"Oh, Kanji, they're adorable! Would you make me one? I'd pay you and everything!" She says, hugging the stuffed animal, a bear dressed as a pig, towards her and rocking side to side affectionately.

Kanji blushes at the praise and smooths his hair back, "Dumb ass, you ain't gotta pay me."

"Kanji, it's rude to talk to girls like that," his mother scolds.

"My bad," he says, finishing up the display and walking back outside to the door connecting his home to the store, "We'll be in the living room, okay?" He calls out behind him.

"Alright, dear, have fun."

The two of them mimic his action as they wave goodbye to his mother and step into the house, taking their shoes off at the entrance. His home was very traditional and neat, besides the boxes of various fabric and beads stacked up near the staircase and hallway. 

Kanji takes a seat by the coffee table in the middle of the room and switches on the tv. Placing some sowing equipment in front of him before getting up and walking to the small kitchen opposite of them. Rise hops over and takes a seat, flicking channels on the tv as she helps herself to an orange from the bowl sitting at the table's center.

"Dude, you can sit down, y'know. Relax." Kanji tells her, as he begins to boil water in an electric tea kettle by the kitchen counter. Right. Relax. She should relax, but she'd never actually been to a friends' house before, besides the times they'd gone to Souji's house together, and the one occasion she'd visited Chie in order to help her beat a puzzle level in a game she was having trouble with that no guide seemed to exist for, apparently. However, something about this just felt more intimate, though that was likely because of the embarrassing situation that had occurred at school a little while ago. Naoto shakes the thought out of her mind as she forces herself to go sit down next to Rise in front of the TV.

Rise hands her an orange, and she begins peeling it even though she doesn't really want it, it's more of a distraction than anything really. After a few moments of silence something clicks and she can hear Kanji pouring them tea in the kitchen.

"Sorry," Rise says suddenly, lowering her voice enough for only her to hear.

"What?"

"Sorry for earlier at school, I was just jealous," she's not looking at her but there's a reluctant look on her face at the admission.

"Jealous of what?" Naoto asks, she honestly has no idea what there is to be jealous of, Kanji and her were on no closer terms than anyone else in their group, and Rise was the one who was always pushing them together in the first place, so what reason did she have to suddenly resent the idea of a simple conversation between the two of them? It's not like she couldn't be included if she wanted to be, she wants to tell her as much when Kanji returns to the coffee table with a tray and three cups filled with what smells like green tea.

"Whatcha watchin'?"

"Who knows!" Rise says, throwing her arms up and laying down on the floor.

"Cool," Kanji settles down and begins knitting something.

Naoto honestly doesn't know why she's friends with either of them.

 

The evening passes by with the light clatter of knitting needles and Rise's teasing echoing in Naoto's ears as she does her homework in silence, and it's honestly pretty peaceful, despite how awkward she feels. The dial on the clock on the wall strikes nine on the dot when she realizes that she needs to start heading home before the buses stop running. She's a little disappointed.

"I have to go, thank you for having me," she says to the two of them, rising to her feet after packing her notebook and pencil case into her school bag.

"Woah, what?" Rise slurs, waking up from her half nap on the floor, "Woah, it's nine already! My grandma's gonna kill me!"

"Why? You're right across the street." Kanji says, looking over one of his finished products, a teddy bear dressed as a hedgehog in a leather jacket, very cute.

"Uh, yeah, at a boy's house!" Rise says, stumbling to her knees and reaching for her cellphone and bag.

"Wait, dammit!" Kanji yells at them as they quickly head towards the door to put their shoes on, getting up from his spot on the floor with the two stuffed animals in his hands, "Here!"

Oh, they were for the two of them. How nice. Naoto takes the black penguin dressed as a blue fox in her hand and realizes upon closer observation that it has a little magnifying glass in its hand and a deerstalker hat. That is... very thoughtful.

"Thank you, Kanji. This is... sweet," she says with a wide smile, despite herself. Kanji's red now, and barely seems to register Rise's screams of praise and thanks from her side. Her doll is a chick dressed as a bunny with a microphone in its hand, now that she's got a closer look at it.

"Y-Yeah, well, yer welcome or whatever," Kanji sputters, crossing his arms before finally kicking them out of his house with a quick goodbye and a see you at school tomorrow.

They stand outside the door looking down at the dolls in their hands fondly before walking onto the sidewalk, Rise stretches her arms out in the air and lets out a reminiscent sigh.

"That was fun, we should hang out more, Naoto."

"Indeed."

"We should hang out with just the two of us next."

"Yes." Wait, what?

"Cool! Girls night out, let's run away to Okina and hit the town!"

"W-wait!" Naoto outstretches her hand to calm her down, she was too tired to realize what she was agreeing to before it was too late.

"I'm just kidding, my grandma will seriously kill me, but seriously let's hang out this Sunday. I'll call you, okay?" Rise laughs, giving her arm a squeeze and sprinting off toward the tofu shop a bit down the road.

 

As Naoto boarded the last bus heading toward her apartment, with only one other person on it, she took a seat by the window as usual. The nighttime view of rice fields and the sparsely lit windows of the houses littered across the countryside passed her eyes as she replayed the events of the day in her mind. Leaning her head against the window she felt her eyes growing heavy and decided that having best friends really was exhausting. When she got home, the doll Kanji had made her would sit lovingly on her desk from then on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our little detective is surprisingly sentimental sometimes. But only sometimes.


End file.
